Chernobyl fallout dangerous yet

Fears that fires scorching forests polluted by Chernobyl fallout may propel dangerous amounts of radioactivity into the air are overblown, scientists say, and the actual health risks are very small.

Even firefighters tackling the blazes, which officials say have hit forests in Russia's Bryansk region tainted by radioactive dust from the 1986 Chernobyl reactor disaster, are unlikely to run any added nuclear contamination risks.

The amount of radiation in smoke would be only a fraction of the original fallout, they say.

"Of the total radioactivity in the area, much less than one percent of it will be remobilized," said Jim Smith, an expert on Chernobyl and a specialist in Earth and Environmental Sciences at Britain's University of Portsmouth.

Radioactive contamination in the area has substantially diminished in the almost two and a half decades since explosions at Chernobyl's reactor No. 4 caused the world's worst civil nuclear disaster on April 26, 1986.

"Most of the radioactivity is in the soil, which will not be affected by the fires, and only a small proportion is in the vegetation," Smith said in a telephone interview. "And of that only a very small proportion of that will get re-suspended in the smoke from the fires."

Russia's forest protection agency said on Wednesday that fires covering an area of 39 square kilometers (15 square miles) had been registered in regions with forests polluted with radiation. The regions affected included Bryansk province, which borders Ukraine, southwest of Moscow.

"NEGLIGIBLE" HEALTH RISK

Both France's Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety and Germany's Federal Office for Radiation Protection said on Thursday that while some radiation was likely to be remobilized in smoke, the health risks were minimal and would have no impact on either Russia or neighboring countries.

Maria Neira, the World Health Organization's director of public health and environment said the WHO had data from controlled burning experiments conducted in the region in recent years and these suggested no reason for concern.

"We know from these experiments that the redistribution and re-suspension of radionuclides (radioactive particles) will be negligible for people's health," she told Reuters.

According to experts, the types of radioactive isotopes that might still be active in the Bryansk area include strontium 90 and caesium 137. These substances have half lives of about 30 years, meaning that only about half the radioactive material emitted by Chernobyl is still around now.

France's Institute for Radiation Protection said there may be a slight increase in radioactivity in the nearby environment due to re-suspension of caesium-137, "but it would be very much lower than the natural radioactivity."

Portsmouth's Smith and Stig Husin, an analyst in emergency preparedness at the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority, said the main threat from the fires both locally and nationally in Russia was the choking smoke from forest and peat fires, and the smog which is clouding the air in Moscow -- all of which can cause lung and heart problems.

"I would be much more concerned about the smog in Moscow and the health impacts of that -- not because of radiation but because of people inhaling harmful air pollution," said Smith.

Husin said those living near the Chernobyl-contaminated areas where fires have been reported would be wise to protect themselves by staying inside or wearing masks.

"Naturally it would be good if you are living close to the fires to protect yourself from the smoke itself. If you do protect yourself then naturally you protect yourself from the radioactive substances that may be in the smoke."

Fine for Telecom Tower radiation

Mobile service providers will have to pay a fine of Rs five lakh per mobile phone tower from November if it does not confirm to internationally accepted limits of radiation, government told the Lok Sabha today.

"To avoid health hazard from radiation of Mobile Towers, Department of Telecom has issued instructions to all Access Service Providers to conform to the limits of radiation as prescribed by International Commission on Non-ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) from time-to-time," Minister of State for Communications Sachin Pilot said.

He said government has asked service providers to have all the base transreceiver station (BTS) self-certified as meeting radiation norms.

China accuses imported milk powder for latest scandal

The latest milk powder scandal in China has taken a new turn with the concerned Chinese dairy saying it was distributing products imported from New Zealand. The New Zealand supplier has claimed its products were “100% safe”.

Synutra International, the Chinese dairy, made the statement after the government ordered a probe into accusations that babies had developed breasts after consuming milk powder sold by it.

Hormonal levels in at least three babies in Hubei province and one in Beijing have risen to the levels of adult women after consuming the milk products, sources said. The Chinese health ministry on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the allegations.

UK scientists find superbug gene

British scientists have found a new gene that allows any bacteria to become a superbug, and are warning that it is widespread in India and could soon appear worldwide.

The gene, which can be swapped between different bacteria to make them resistant to most drugs, has so far been identified in 37 people who returned to the UK after undergoing surgery in India or Pakistan.

The resistant gene has also been detected in Australia, Canada, the US, the Netherlands and Sweden. The researchers say since many Americans and Europeans travel to India and Pakistan for elective procedures like cosmetic surgery, it was likely the superbug gene would spread worldwide.

In an article published online Wednesday in the journal Lancet Infectious Diseases, doctors reported finding a new gene, called NDM-1.

Donating PaceMakers of Dead could save Thousands of lives in Developing countries

Thousands of lives could be saved every year if the US were to donate used pacemakers to developing countries instead of throwing them in the trash, doctors say.

The US Food and Drug Administration currently prohibits reuse of pacemakers from dead people, in part because of the risk of infection. According to experts, this policy is supported by manufacturers and many physicians.

But at a meeting on Thursday, doctors from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor presented pooled data from hundreds of patients showing there was no increase in infections, malfunctioning or overall complications when reusing pacemakers. "This is a potentially life-saving technology that we are just throwing away right now," said Dr Kim Eagle, a cardiologist who worked on the study.

Breath could tell about Diabetes

A nanotechnology-based sensor could soon tell whether someone has Type 1 diabetes — just by analysing their breath.

The sensor, which has been successfully tested by Swiss researchers, could also be used by emergency room doctors to determine whether a patient has developed diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially serious complication that happens when diabetics do not take enough insulin.

Even diabetics could use the technology in their homes, to determine whether they need more insulin. Sotiris Pratsinis and colleagues at ETH Zurich in Switzerland explain that everyone has a little bit of acetone in their breath.

But people with Type 1 diabetes release unusually high levels of the chemical when they exhale. If they have diabetic ketoacidosis, a dangerous buildup of acetone in the blood, they exhale even-larger amounts of acetone.

They built a sensitive acetone detector by directly depositing from a flame plume a thin film of semiconducting, mixed ceramic nanoparticles between a set of gold electrodes.

Oil spill a major environmental disaster in American continent

As oil edged toward the Louisiana coast and fears continued to grow that the leak from a seabed oil well could spiral out of control, officials in the Obama administration publicly chastised BP America for its handling of the spreading oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

Yet a review of the response suggests it may be too simplistic to place all the blame for the unfolding environmental catastrophe on the oil company. The federal government also had opportunities to move more quickly, but did not do so while it waited for a resolution to the spreading spill from BP.

Glaucoma & the 12 million affected Indians

In World Glaucoma Week, know how to guard yourself against the disease that has affected an estimated 12 million Indians

So how often do you go for an eye check? With most of us leading a lifestyle that strains our eyes on a daily basis (like long hours in front of computers), a routine eye check up every three months, doctors suggest, is a good idea to keep track of your eyesight. This week, ending March 13, the world is observing Glaucoma Week, highlighting, among other things, the fact that regular eye examination, particularly by those above 40, helps early detection of the disease and, in turn, would help in preserving one's vision. Glaucoma is a hereditary disease but there are other factors that can make you a potential glaucoma patient.

Diabetes & Coffee at lunch

Drinking coffee cuts diabetes risk, but you may need to enjoy your java with lunch if you want to get any benefit.

Over a dozen studies have linked coffee drinking to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes - the type closely linked to obesity. But the mechanism behind the relationship hasn't been established and no studies have looked at whether the timing of coffee drinking influences this effect.

To investigate, researchers looked at 69,532 French women participating in a large European nutrition study. The women ranged in age from 41 to 72 years when they were enrolled in the study, and were followed for 11 years, on average.

Extra small condoms in Swiss causes mixed reaction

There is controversy in Switzerland over a new brand of extra small condoms that has gone on sale for boys as young as 12.

Called the Hot Shot, the condoms were produced after government research showed a growing number of 12 to 14-year-olds were sexually active.

Swiss manufacturer Lamprecht AG is marketing the new Hot Shot as the condom that "fits when passion hits".

It is smaller than the average - not in length but in diameter.

Degradable bag acts a single use toilet

A Swedish entrepreneur is trying to market and sell a biodegradable plastic bag that acts as a single-use toilet for urban slums in the developing world.

Once used, the bag can be knotted and buried, and a layer of urea crystals breaks down the waste into fertilizer, killing off disease-producing pathogens found in feces.

The bag, called the Peepoo, is the brainchild of Anders Wilhelmson, an architect and professor in Stockholm.

“Not only is it sanitary,” said Mr. Wilhelmson, who has patented the bag, “they can reuse this to grow crops.”